to testing testing thing that could push gold prices above $2,000 an ounce this year is if president obama is re-elected. the thinking-- the president will keep bernanke employed, which means interest rates stay very, very low. suzanne pratt, nbr, new york. >> tom: stocks moved higher ahead of tomorrow's report on the september job market. the s&p 500 really gained momentum just after 10:00 a.m. eastern time after the commerce department released its report on september factory orders. while total orders were down, it wasn't as bad as feared. the index finished higher by seven tenths of a percent. trading volume held steady on the big board-- 672 million shares. it was just under 1.6 billion on the nasdaq. financials and materials were two strongest stock sectors, up 1.5% and 1.3%, respectively. the energy sector recovered some of what it had lost earlier this week, rebounding 1%. bank of america and j.p. morgan were among those financial stocks fueling the gains and helping move the dow jones industrial average to its best gain in three weeks. bank of america gained 3.3% on heavy volume.